• Singular they practice

    From Rich Ulrich@21:1/5 to lispamateur@crommatograph.info on Thu Aug 12 12:54:28 2021
    XPost: alt.usage.english

    [sci.stat.consult added, in case anyone still reads ssc]
    On Wed, 11 Aug 2021 13:00:28 -0400, Quinn C
    <lispamateur@crommatograph.info> wrote:

    * Rich Ulrich:

    On Wed, 11 Aug 2021 06:25:25 +0100, Richard Heathfield
    <rjh@cpax.org.uk> wrote:

    On 11/08/2021 02:44, Peter Moylan wrote:
    On 11/08/21 12:25, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
    On Tuesday, August 10, 2021 at 6:50:46 PM UTC-4, Richard Heathfield
    wrote:

    "Transgender prisoners are five times more likely to carry out sex >>>>>> attacks on inmates at women’s jails than other prisoners are, official >>>>>> figures show.

    Male prisoners who were transferred to women’s jails during gender >>>>>> reassignment and women inmates who are transitioning committed seven of >>>>>> the 124 sex attacks recorded between 2010 and 2018. They occurred at HMP >>>>>> Low Newton in Co Durham, Foston Hall in Derbyshire, Peterborough,
    Bronzefield in Middlesex and New Hall, West Yorkshire."

    Let's see. Seven versus 117. Pretty heinous!

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/seven-sex-attacks-in-womens-jails-by-transgender-convicts-cx9m8zqpg


    To evaluate that, you'd have to know what proportion of the prison
    population is transgender.

    Numeracy might be an ask too far.

    Being a statistician and data analyst, I feel compelled to point
    out that the events are not "independent" and that "Mr White"
    in a previous post accounted for 5 assaults. Proper statistical
    testing of the most common sort assumes independence of
    events.

    So, yeah, a few people need to be watched with suspicion.
    And that suggests to me the possibility that fair and accurate
    "counting" may be hard to achieve, if some people are watched
    more closely.

    Wow. I thought there might be more to this if one were to look closely,
    but I didn't feel I have the time and energy, so thanks.

    This makes it almost a textbook case of manipulating the message by
    choosing the way of presenting statistics.

    I suppose it could have been intentional misrepresentation, but
    I still figure Hanlon's Razor applies - "never attribute to malice
    that which is adequately explained by stupidity".

    --
    Rich Ulrich

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Quinn C@21:1/5 to All on Thu Aug 12 17:56:09 2021
    XPost: alt.usage.english

    * Rich Ulrich:

    [sci.stat.consult added, in case anyone still reads ssc]
    On Wed, 11 Aug 2021 13:00:28 -0400, Quinn C
    <lispamateur@crommatograph.info> wrote:

    * Rich Ulrich:

    On Wed, 11 Aug 2021 06:25:25 +0100, Richard Heathfield
    <rjh@cpax.org.uk> wrote:

    On 11/08/2021 02:44, Peter Moylan wrote:
    On 11/08/21 12:25, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
    On Tuesday, August 10, 2021 at 6:50:46 PM UTC-4, Richard Heathfield >>>>>> wrote:

    "Transgender prisoners are five times more likely to carry out sex >>>>>>> attacks on inmates at women’s jails than other prisoners are, official
    figures show.

    Male prisoners who were transferred to women’s jails during gender >>>>>>> reassignment and women inmates who are transitioning committed seven of >>>>>>> the 124 sex attacks recorded between 2010 and 2018. They occurred at HMP
    Low Newton in Co Durham, Foston Hall in Derbyshire, Peterborough, >>>>>>> Bronzefield in Middlesex and New Hall, West Yorkshire."

    Let's see. Seven versus 117. Pretty heinous!

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/seven-sex-attacks-in-womens-jails-by-transgender-convicts-cx9m8zqpg


    To evaluate that, you'd have to know what proportion of the prison
    population is transgender.

    Numeracy might be an ask too far.

    Being a statistician and data analyst, I feel compelled to point
    out that the events are not "independent" and that "Mr White"
    in a previous post accounted for 5 assaults. Proper statistical
    testing of the most common sort assumes independence of
    events.

    So, yeah, a few people need to be watched with suspicion.
    And that suggests to me the possibility that fair and accurate
    "counting" may be hard to achieve, if some people are watched
    more closely.

    Wow. I thought there might be more to this if one were to look closely,
    but I didn't feel I have the time and energy, so thanks.

    This makes it almost a textbook case of manipulating the message by >>choosing the way of presenting statistics.

    I suppose it could have been intentional misrepresentation, but
    I still figure Hanlon's Razor applies - "never attribute to malice
    that which is adequately explained by stupidity".

    In general, yes, but most of the UK press has in recent years shown a
    marked tendency to gratuitously report on trans issues, and typically
    with a negative bent (or with a pseudo-neutral "some say this, some
    that", not clarifying that the "this" group includes 90% of the experts,
    and the "that" group mostly anti-trans lobbyists), so I feel justified
    to be prejudiced.

    --
    It doesn't matter that you've got that stupid accent, or that your
    bits are different to my bits, because being a Derry Girl,
    well, it's a fucking state of mind. And you're one of us.
    -- Michelle to James, Derry Girls, series 2, episode 6

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